Recently in Sexual Orientation Category

Justin "Angie" Zapata, an 18 year old transgendered person,
was murdered on July 16th by a man that she had sexual relations
with after he found out that she was actually born a male.

The story has gotten quite a bit of coverage and I've
attempted to follow it as closely as possible. I agree with the vast majority
of people writing about the story, it's very sad that Angie Zapata was murdered,
it's a terrible thing; what I disagree with is how many people are portraying
the case, or perhaps I should say - what they are not portraying:

Angie Zapata met Allen Ray Andrade through a website called
mocospace.com, which I can only assume is similar to myspace.com; a social
website for people to network, meet and interact in various kinds of
activities, including sexual activities.

After a very brief bout of communications through
mocospace.com; the affidavit released by Greeley police states that shortly
after meeting for the very first time and spending the day together, the day of
July 15th 2008, that Angie Zapata performed oral sex on Andrade but
would not allow him to reciprocate.

They spent the night together and in the morning Angie
Zapata left her apartment, while Allen Ray Andrade was free to peruse the
apartment at his discretion.

While alone in the apartment of Angie Zapata, Andrade
apparently discovered several pictures that lead him to either question, or if
he already had doubts from the previous night - to further question the gender
of Zapata.

When Angie Zapata returned to her home she discovered the distraught
Andrade, who then began making demands to see the genitalia of Zapata; who
then, according to Andrade, stated that she was "all woman."

Not taking Angie Zapata's word for it, Andrade then began grabbing
at her genitalia, at which point he then of course made the inevitable
discovery that she was indeed a man, and that his suspicions were true.

Andrade then struck Zapata with his hands, finally the
violence escalated to Andrade grabbing a fire extinguisher and striking Zapata
in the head with it numerous times.

Thinking that his actions had lead to the death of Angie Zapata,
Andrade began his attempts at covering up his crime; shortly after Zapata began
to move and try to get off of the ground: Andrade then took the fire
extinguisher in his hands and with one final strike, ended the life of Angie
Zapata.

It's an extremely sad story, and to be completely honest, it
was fairly difficult typing the above explanation out for those of you that do
not yet know the story.

I'm going to say upfront, before I allow anyone to get the
wrong idea as to what my feelings are on this case: That I am not going to
defend Allen Ray Andrade in any way. He is undoubtedly a murderer and deserves
whatever justice is forced upon him and much, much more.

Where I take issue is in the fact that Justin "Angie" Zapata
was living a lie by stating that she was a female, when in reality she wasn't,
no matter how much she wanted to be, no matter how much she felt that she was a
female; the sad reality is that she was not a female and could never be a
female.

I certainly don't mean to judge her. She was who she was and
I respect that on every level.

What I do not respect is the level of deception involved, as
well as the questionable decision making on her part.

Case in point, here is a (large) picture of Allen Ray
Andrade:

Maybe I'm just not hip enough, not in the know enough to
understand that meeting some 31 year old man from the internet for a random
sexual encounter is actually perfectly sound judgment on Angie Zapata's part.

Looking at it logically though, meeting a person that looks
like the person pictured above (Allen Ray Andrade) for random sex acts, after
lying to him about your gender, possibly your age, and who knows what else;
well, let's just say that it doesn't seem like a wise choice for a person, any
person, to make.

Yet for some reason I haven't seen this mentioned on one
single blog or website. Nobody seems to care that this 18 year old girl was
meeting a 31 year old man, whom she met through the internet, for a random
sexual encounter.

This is only compounded by the fact that transgendered
people are looked at through the eyes of bigotry and hate.

What does a person have to be thinking to do something like
this, to make a decision as unsound, as thoughtless as this? I can't even bring
myself to that level of understanding; it's an impossibility for me, no matter
how hard I try; I just don't see myself thinking at that level.

The second issue that I mentioned was the deception involved
on the part of Angie Zapata.

I visited what I believe to be Angie Zapata's Myspace page:
It states quite clearly that she is a female and that she is heterosexual. There
is absolutely no mention of being transgendered, transsexual, bisexual, male,
born a male, nothing of that sort.

I understand that many transgendered people don't feel that
they are actually of the gender of their birth; but the reality is that no
matter how badly they want to be the opposite gender, that it's impossible for
that to happen.

Certainly that must be tough to understand and accept,
especially considering how many people view transgendered individuals in the
United States, and much of the world for that matter. But it's something that
they have to come to accept.

Transgendered individuals should be accepting of what and who
they are. No matter how they feel, they should be free to express their
feelings in a way that makes them feel good about themselves, not in a way that
they think will be accepted by others.

I have no doubt that many people would have accepted Angie
Zapata as a transgendered person, just as her family and her friends appear to
have done. Anyone that wanted to judge her based on her sexual feelings, rather
than what she was like as a person, as a fellow human being, isn't someone that
she should have worried about looking for acceptance from in the first place.

Angie Zapata should have accepted what she was and dealt
with it. Those people that didn't accept her for how she felt, people who
judged her for her sexual feelings, aren't people whose opinions should be
respected or sought after.

In closing, it's a very sad thing that should not have ever
happened.

R.I.P. Angie Zapata, I don't doubt that you will be
remembered by a great many people.